Penelope stroked her girlfriend's hair, feeling her silent sobs. Her mother's video had been wonderful, but emotional.
Josie was just beginning to settle, her breathing evening out into sleep, when someone began hammering on the door.
"Josie? Josie, I know you're in there! We need to talk."
Josie started awake and Penelope cursed under her breath, getting up to yank the door open. "Is this really necessary, Saltzman?"
"Back off, Satan," Lizzie growled, pushing past her. "You lied to me!"
"Lizzie, what are you talking about?" Josie asked.
"You told me Hope told the school I was bipolar," Lizzie said, her voice shaking. "Why?"
"I didn't …" Josie sighed. "I didn't just lie. I started the fire."
"Why would you do that?" Lizzie asked. "Hope was our friend!"
"It was an accident," Josie said, more to her shoes than to Lizzie. "I had this crush on her." She gave Penelope an apologetic look, but her girlfriend only shrugged.
"She's hot; who wouldn't?"
"I slipped a note under her door to tell her," Josie said. "Then I realised what a stupid idea that was so I tried to get the note back, but I couldn't. I was only aiming for the note."
"Josie, if it was an accident, why not just admit it?" Lizzie asked. "Dad spent almost all summer checking all of the electrical wiring in case it happened again."
"I didn't want anyone to know," Josie said. "I don't have accidents like that. After she left, you made some comment about me being obsessed with her and I panicked. If you found out I liked her …"
"Why would that matter?" Lizzie asked.
"Because whenever I like someone, you always go after them," Josie said exasperatedly, "and you always win."
"Okay, I do not do that," Lizzie said. "Exhibit A, right here." She gestured in Penelope's direction. "I have never gone after people I know you like. I have talked to them, yeah, but I don't go after them. So you decided the best solution was to tell me that Hope had stabbed me in the back?"
"It was the first thing I could think of to convince you I didn't like her," Josie said.
"What, you couldn't just say something like 'don't be silly, she's like my sister'?" Lizzie asked. "Wait a second, in that case, how did everyone else find out?"
Josie didn't answer and didn't meet her eyes.
"Josie. How did everyone else find out?" Lizzie repeated.
"I realised you'd figure out that I lied if no one else knew," Josie said quietly. "So I told them."
Lizzie stared at her.
"Everything's fine," Josie said hastily. "It's all worked out fine - no one thinks any less of you for it."
Lizzie took a shaky breath, the lights flickering above her, and turned to Penelope. "I know you hate me, but just … keep her away from me for a bit."
Hope grabbed her phone as a text came in.
P: WTF? L going ur way I think - will need u. I got J. x
Whatever had happened, it had Penelope worried about Lizzie.
That in itself was concern.
Hope pulled her door open to go looking for her, but she didn't have to look far - Lizzie was right outside. "What happened?"
Lizzie burst into tears.
Automatically, Hope wrapped her arms around her, drawing her inside. "It's okay," she murmured. "We'll get through it together."
"You don't understand," Lizzie sobbed. "She l-l-lied to me and she t-t-told everyone so I wouldn't realise it."
Hope bit back the curse that threatened her composure, burying her own hurt and anger in lieu of trying to soothe Lizzie's. "Come on."
While Lizzie told her story, Hope helped her change out of her dress, gently cleansing her face of make-up and tears.
Finally Lizzie fell silent, while Hope ran a brush carefully through her hair.
It was a practiced ritual from a time before the diagnosis, when Lizzie's episodes were still a mystery and when Josie had no idea how to handle them.
"I'm so sorry," Lizzie whispered.
Hope smiled sadly, setting the brush down to scrape Lizzie's hair back into the braid she preferred to sleep with. "I'm sorry too."
Lizzie leaned back against her, closing her eyes. "I should have confronted you as soon as she said it, but it … it hurt too much. You were one of the constants in my life and the thought that you would do that … it was paralysing. Kind of like this." She sniffled. "And she thinks it's fine! Everyone's fine with it, she says - yeah, right!"
Hope winced. "They are, actually. I think because they know there's a reason now. When you're having a bad day, they know why, and that it's not just you being, you know, a bitch. But that doesn't let her off," she added hastily.
"They're okay?" Lizzie asked in a small voice.
"I've heard maybe three people say something bad over the last four years," Hope said. "Always newbies, and they get shut down fast. Even Pen goes up to bat for you on that one. Says she doesn't need to hold your brain chemistry against you, because she's got plenty of other reasons."
"Great," Lizzie muttered, wiping her eyes. "Still ,what does it say about me if my own sister …"
"That's enough," Hope said, gently but firmly. "Here." She reached into her dressing table drawer and withdrew a small package. "Happy Birthday."
"Hope …" Lizzie began.
"I have been trying to give you this for four years," Hope said with a smile. "It won't work for anyone but you."
Conceding, Lizzie tore off the paper, yellowed from years of sitting in limbo, to find a small box. Inside was a necklace, a fine silver chain with a delicate heart-shaped pendant. "It's beautiful."
"It's charmed," Hope said. "May I?"
Lizzie nodded, lifting her braid away from her neck. "Charmed?"
"You told me once that the bipolar makes your brain lie to you and tell you that no one cares," Hope said, fastening the necklace around her neck. "This will warm up whenever someone thinks something good about you. Hopefully that will give you a bit of an extra defence against that."
Lizzie's eyes met hers in the mirror, and then she turned, catching Hope's hand before she could move away. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Hope whispered.
Lizzie stood, a head taller than Hope even without her heels, and leaned down to press her lips against Hope's.
Her first kiss with Roman had made nerves blossom in her stomach like butterflies. This was … This was coming home.
Hope closed her eyes, pressing into the kiss for a second, before pulling away. "Lizzie, now is not the time to be doing anything you might regret tomorrow."
"It's not," Lizzie said. "It wasn't just Josie. I had a crush on you, had done since I was ten, That was part of the reason I was such a bitch - it just wouldn't go away, even though I thought you'd betrayed me in the worst way." She sighed. "Maybe Josie knew that and that's why …"
"You wouldn't have made a move if you knew how Josie felt," Hope said immediately. "I don't care what she says - I have never seen you go after someone she likes."
Lizzie smiled sadly. "I wouldn't have said anything anyway. We were friends; I would never have risked losing that. I guess I've got nothing to lose now."
"You have never lost me," Hope said softly. "I have always been right here, Lizzie. I just think we should have this conversation in the morning, when we're not both reeling from the truth."
"I haven't lost you?" Lizzie asked.
"You're never going to lose me," Hope said, holding up her hand. "Til the bitter end, remember?"
Lizzie finally gave her a true smile, linking their pinkies together like they did when they were young. "Always and forever."